Arne Slot has given a realistic picture of the integration of Alexander Isak in Liverpool and warned supporters not to expect that the number 9 will play regularly from the start.
Isak trained for the first time as a Liverpool player on Tuesday and joined the U21S team for a session led by Slot’s support staff.
The £ 125 million striker could therefore be in the team for the trip to Burnley on Sunday, but after only 18 minutes since the end of May it is very unlikely that he will start.
Those minutes came before Sweden during the international break and spoke about the fitness of Isak, Slot praised his player and insisted on caution about his playing time in the coming weeks.
“First of all, I think the Sweden manager, Jon Dahl Tomasson, deserves a large, great compliment,” he told reporters.
“Because he gets one of the best – perhaps the best – strikers in the world and has to play two very important games for his country, but understands that if he would play him twice for 90 minutes, the player would probably have been injured for several weeks.
“That is not always easy for a manager that he takes care of the interest of a player. So he deserves a big compliment.
“And we will treat Alex the same as she. So don’t expect him to be on the field for 90 minutes.
“That will definitely not happen in the coming weeks.
“He missed a good pre-season, I think he missed team sessions for three or four months, and so we now have to build it up gradually.
“Playing so many games with us, hardly any training time, that will be a challenge.
“But we not only signed it in the coming weeks, we signed him for six years.
“This is what we have to keep in mind and what the fans should keep in mind when they see me pick up at a certain moment, or if I only come in for a small amount of minutes.
“That’s all for the player’s long -term fitness.”
“I haven’t (yet) spoken to him much!”
With Slot who travels back to visit his family during the international break, he still has to make full contact with his new British record signature.
But while he continued, the head coach has faith in his capacities as a player and that should help him adjust to a new team.
“Maybe people don’t believe me when I give you this answer, but I didn’t speak to him that much,” Lock continued.
“I spoke with him after he had signed by telephone, because he had to go to the national team.
“And the way I, 99 out of 100 times, treat my players during international breaks is that I leave them for the manager they work there.
“So I may have sent him a text message once or twice because he is new to us, I wanted to know how he did it.
“I have to get to know him much better in the coming days and weeks as a person.
“But although we find it very important what someone is like, because we have such a great culture here at this club, we mainly sign a player for his qualities and that is why I don’t have to call him.
“We confronted him a few times, I stood opposite him a few times and I know what a quality player he is!”
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